I agree with Marco. It sounds over compressed - and overcooked. Dynamics are almost nill... Drums are squashed, lifeless, thin ... Panning is too extreme on things like strings and guitars...guitars are very thin sounding, over-compressed...The vocals are really hard to discern...do you have some kind of doubling effect on them?

But... those are all mix things.

I like the song, the performances are really good, well-written, arranged and played - everything is performed very well, nicely tight; good harmonies, energetic lead vocal ( but really muddy...wish I could hear the words more clearly), cool guitar parts... nice embellishments with the orchestral brass/string strikes, and I really like the performance on the bass.

Your performances have always been good, Luke. You're a very good musician, arranger and writer.

This one just needs a complete overhaul on the mix.

Have you considered getting these tracks to someone else to mix? Someone with fresher ears, and a fresher approach to the mix?

I only ask, because I've heard many of these same issues in your mixes before; on tracks like "Beware The Wiccan", "Damned If I Do", and "Psych Knife"... you've always been a very good writer and arranger, and the tracks are always performed very well in your songs, but your mixes always seem to suffer from similar issues - mainly over-compression, overall lack of body and low end, harsh high's.... particularly the drums, guitars and vocals, along with the overall levels of gain reduction (over limiting) on the 2-Bus of your mixes...

I think that you may be losing objectivity on these songs by the time it comes to mix them, and your perception is being skewed... and this is not at all uncommon for this to happen, either.

Well, gentlemen, I have been busy with a paradigm shift in the way I mix now, as I am paying more attention to my LV meter and Sonalksis Free G Meter at the two-bus. Hopefully you won't hear any squashed or overcooked material. Here is another v of Comic Book Heroes
Thx for your advisory.

It's missing a lot of clarity, especially in the guitar and drums, and it's a little fat in the low mids. It's a bit of an over correction but much better in some fundamental ways. The lead vocal comes through better, the tones are all more pleasant and the dynamics seem more natural.

Ok, here is "Comic Book Heroes" mixed in a different listening environment. LMK if you think I fixed the following...
Is the hi-end back?
Is it more "Full Bodied", with a better bass track?
Is it less squashed?

That sounds much better. I still hear things I would want to work on but it's far closer to a balanced mix. I think the different listening environment has helped a lot.

The low end is a little weak, but in a fairly even way. Just a little nudge on bass and kick eq may do the trick. I think you might like the low-end on this take

The vocals sound a little muffled. I might try a shelf boost from 2k up. I went 3k and up

I think the guitars could come up a little and/or get some eq to make them cut just a little more. Hi shelved at 2.4K

There's at least one cymbal that has a harsh brightness to it. Cut at 5k? Maybe just turn it down. Worked on cymbals as well

Click to expand...

I think I might have a new standard of mixing with this latest effort - I got the dynamic range at around 15, and no overs or squashing.
On mix 82, I upped the bass a bit over 81's level. Let me know which mix you like best.
lmkwyt

Attached Files:

That sounds best so far, though I haven't had a chance to hear the two before this. I could see bumping a couple of lead vocal lines in the choruses where it gets a little lost, maybe fine tuning some vocal and guitar stuff. I can always find something more to do, but this is a solid rock mix. See how it fits in a playlist with some comparable music. Judas Priest would be an interesting comparison.

Thanks, boulder, for your continued help. It has been bloggers like you, Donny, and pcrecord that have been politely making me take a hard look at the way I have been wrongly approaching my gain staging, and overuse of compressors and limiters in my mixes. I'm going to move on the other seven songs in this CD using the above song as a sort of "template".
thx